Combination product of wheat tlour and an additive: Does it elicit a celiac cellular immune response ex vivo?

Research Project, 2023 – 2024

We are working on the development of a combination product of wheat flour and a food additive, APZn, that lcan be safely consumed by individuals with celiac disease. We have so far tested the developed combination product in a study with healthy participants and confirmed that the additive prevents intestinal processing of gluten by the enzyme transglutaminase 2 (TG2) in vivo. The last steps are to first confirm that there is no celiac immune response ex vivo, and second in celiac individuals in vivo. In an ongoing project funded by Lantmännen, we are investigating this in a biopsy study with celiac participants. However, we have ncountered difficulties in finding appropriate candidates, which have resulted in high background antibodies nd very few samples so far. The consequence is that the study can not progress to the in vivo trial in reasonable time, and therefore, we propose a complementary approach to be able to finish the ongoing project. In this study we will investigate if the combination product elicits a celiac cellular immune response in a co-culture cell model (Dendritic/Thl cells) based on patient material from the ongoing study. With this model we will get data on 1) presentation of deamidated gliadin by celiac dendritic cells and 2) activation of lthe T-cells by the interaction with deamidated gliadin presenting dendritic cells. If there is no presentation by, or activation of, these immune cells, we can assume that the APZn-inhibiting TG2 processing also hinders he activation of the celiac immune response.